Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) department of the global tech-giant Google has recently developed a new model to protect the endangered species of killer whales.
The whales, which are also known as orcas are seen in very few numbers in the Salish Sea. Google has partnered with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to monitor their condition and alert experts in the event of sickness or accidents caused to the whales. The trained AI model uses underwater audio and labels to listen to the sounds of the whale and to display its location.

Notes:
Technological major Google has recently launched a short-video making application called ‘Tangi’, which is similar to the popular application TikTok.
The application has been launched initially on the web and iOS platforms. Users have to post a short-video on a ‘Do-it-yourself’ (DIY) and creativity content using the application. The application for 60-second-videos has been designed by the incubator of Google called ‘Area 120’. The name of the application is inspired by ‘Teach and Give’ and ‘Tangible’ things. Communities centered around similar hobbies can also be formed.

Notes:
The historic infrared space telescope, called the Spitzer Space Telescope, which was launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), was recently decommissioned.
The Spitzer Space Telescope was launched in 2003 for a two-and-a-half-year mission. But it has been deployed for more than 16 years in various missions to gather valuable data. The decision was made to shut down the Spitzer mission as the space agency begins the mission of the next great infrared space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to be launched before July 2021.

Notes:
In the Union Budget 2020-21, the Government has set its disinvestment target at ₹ 1.2 Lakh Crores for the fiscal year 2020-21. The government also expects ₹90,000 crore revenue from disinvestment of government stake in public sector banks and financial institutions, including the LIC and IDBI bank. This is in addition to the 1.2 Lakh Crore target and hence a total of ₹ 2.1 Lakh Crores worth disinvestment is scheduled.
This year, the government has missed the disinvestment target of ₹1.05 lakh crore. So far, ₹18,000 crore has been generated via disinvestment. The revised estimates set ₹65,000 crore as disinvestment target for this fiscal.

Notes:
After several months of protests, Iraq has named Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi as its next Prime Minister. The Iraq President Barham Salih has appointed the former Minister of Communications as the next Prime Minister.
Mohammed Allawi was appointed as the head as the previous Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi resigned in last November, after mass demonstrations against the government. The new Prime Minister is expected to lead the government until early elections. He is set to form the new government in a month’s time.

Notes:
India and Maldives signed 5 agreements for establishing ‘Addu Tourism zone’ in five islands of Addu atoll. An atoll is a ring-shaped chain of islands formed of coral.
The Tourism zone is expected to be set up at a cost of $2.49 million. It aims at generating local employment and boost the eco-tourism opportunities in Addu. The High Commissioner of India Sunjay Sudhir signed the MoUs with the Maldives Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid and Addu City Council. Another MoU to establish a bottled water plant in Hoarafushi was also inked.

Notes:
The 26-year-old Indian Table Tennis player, Harmeet Desai was seen in news as he clinched his maiden title in the National Table Tennis championship held recently.
In the hard-fought finals, he defeated another top-rated player Manav Thakkar and won the men’s singles title. Manav Thakkar has earlier defeated the top seeded player G. Sathiyan in the semi-finals. Harmeet Desai, an Arjuna awardee, had also won the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship title in 2019. Sutirtha Mukherjee won the women’s singles title, for the second time in a row.

Notes:
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the third Defence Attaches conference at New Delhi. He also announced that India is set to have 10 more Defence Attaches in 10 different countries.
This creation of additional 10 defence wings will strengthen the defence diplomacy of the country and help in increasing exports in defence sector. Under the central government scheme of promoting defence exports, funds are allocated for export through Defence attaches to 34 countries.

Notes:
Kenya’s longest-serving president, Daniel Arap Moi, who ruled the country for 24 years, passed away recently. He assumed charge as the President of the country in 1978, when the founding President Jomo Kenyatta died.
He was seen as a uniting figure by many Kenyans. During his reign, he passed a constitutional amendment that made Kenya a one-party state. Then he surrendered to the demands of a multi-party state in 1991. Corruption, economic crisis and political protests were reported in the East African country.

Notes:
Since 2020, Bhutan levies a ‘sustainable development fee’ of 1,200 ngultrums (Rs 1,200.17) per day on tourists from India, Bangladesh and the Maldives.